The 1978 2017 2023 DC Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters: May-Hem

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published May 1, 2017.

It's May! For real this time, folks! (Thus contradicting Rocky, who told me that trick never works). And while you're out dancing around the maypole I've been slaving over a hot keyboard (owie! ouch! that's hot!) to bring you the constant variety of comics...the thrill of heroes...and the agony of villains...the superhuman drama of monthly big-ass brawls... This is The DC Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters!

"May: Batgirl and Robin" in The 1978 Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters; artwork by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin
(Click picture to sequoiadendron-giganteum-size)

What's this?!? Our boistrous Boy Wonder and dominoed Dare-Doll perniciously pestered by pestilent plants powered by Poison Pivy? I mean Ivy. She's threatening beautiful downtown District of Columbia, and she has absolutely zero regard for those clowns in Congress who were voting today to cut down all the national forests to put up a really big parking lot. Also, they're voting to roll back the rights of women and children, stifle the press, raise our taxes, and give the President cushy not-so-much under the table kickbacks!

Hey wait, why are Batgirl and Robin fighting her?!? Some self-described social justice warriors they are.

To remind you of the Pre-Crisis distance in age between Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon (no relation to Gotham's famous Commissioner James Gordon*), this is the period when Dick attended the hallowed halls of Hudson University (good old H.U.! Home of the Fighting Robins!), and when Barbara was a United States Congresswoman! She represented her state which was... um... well... yeah, whatever state Gotham City was in. North Delafornia!


During the summer vacation, Dick worked as a congressional aide. WHOA HANDS OFF THE CONGRESSPERSON, GRAYSON!


Don't forget we've gotta get out our fine-line El Markos and blacken in all the squares on the JLA Satellite Computer Printout (© 1974 Wayne Industries)...


...to get ourselves a head-start on figuring out the super-secret genius behind all these disasters throughout 1978. Frankly, I'm just betting it's Outsiders foes The Masters of Disaster, which would be their cleverest trick yet, as they were not created until 1984.


Seriously, I've got to give it to the designers of this calendar: even though I have an inkling of who the answer is, I really can't tell yet from this graph and I can't even quite see where're they're going with this. Stay tuned and find out as I do!

Just in case, here's also May's entry in the Clue of the Month Club:


OH HOLY COW IT'S BRUCE WAYNE ISN'T IT?!?

* No, wait, Batgirl is a relation to Jim Gordon. I've made another one of my silly mistakes.

Today in Comics History, December 25, Christmas: The Harley and the Ivy

Yes, I know DC has already used that title, but it's too good to not use for this post.


from "A Change of Heart" in 'Tis the Season to Be Freezin' #1 one-shot (DC, February 2022), script by Tara Roberts, pencils and inks by Eric Battle, colors by Eva de la Cruz, letters by Ferran Delgado
Then they made out for the whole twelve days of Christmas.

Look, you finish your stories your way; let me finish mine.

Today in Comics History, December 24, Christmas Eve: Deck the Halls with Boughs and Harley

from Batman: The Adventures Continue #8 (DC, March 2021), script by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, pencils and inks by Ty Templeton, colors by Monica Kubina, letters by AndWorld Design
SWEATER

I'm pretty sure this is hanging up in the Batcave next to the Pirelli Calendar

Look, I'll admit it: you can't you use this calendar to tell the proper dates of February 2020 (it's for 2019, oddly enough, even though it was published in 2014). But you can put it up and have cheesecake! Yay! Who doesn't love cheesecake?


Cover of Detective Comics (2011 series) #32 (August 2014); pencils, inks, and colors by Ant Lucia

Kick in the Crotch Month, Day 13: Plant your knee right there

Panels from Joker/Mask #3 (July 2000), script by Henry Gilroy, pencils by Ramon Bachs, inks by Howard Shum, colors by Dave McCaig, letters by Steve Dutro

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 125

House ad for Batman & Robin movie tie-in comics (1997);
printed in Batman/Wildcat #3 (June 1997)
Ad art taken from the covers of Batman: Bane, Batman: Batgirl, Batman: Mr. Freeze, and Batman: Poison Ivy; all painted by Brian Stelfreeze

(Click picture to Clooney-size)

Today in Comics History: I shamelessly attempt to boost my blog hits by posting Harley and Ivy comics

Page from "The Harley and the Ivy" in The Batman Adventures Holiday Special one-shot (January 1995); co-plot by Paul Dini; co-plot, script, pencils, inks, and colors by Ronnie Del Carmen; letters by Richard Starkings

The Eight Nights of Comic Book Hanukkah, Night One: Harley Quinn is hard on her Hanukkah gifts

from "The Harley and the Ivy" in The Batman Adventures Holiday Special one-shot (DC, January 1995); co-plot and script by Paul Dini; co-plot, pencils, inks and colors by Ronnie Del Carmen; letters by Richard Starkings

Harley and Ivy Are Best Friends, Day 5: Always the Floral Arrangement, Never the Bride

Panels from Batman Adventures v.2 #16 (September 2004), script by Ty Templeton, pencils by Rick Burchett, inks by Terry Beatty, colors by Heroic Age, letters by Nick J. Napolitano

Harley and Ivy Are Best Friends, Day 4:

Page from The Batman Strikes! #41 (March 2008), script by Russell Lissau, pencils by Christopher Jones, inks by Terry Beatty, colors by Heroic Age, letters by Randy Gentile

Harley and Ivy Are Best Friends, Day 3: It's Time for a Christmas Montage

Page from "The Harley and the Ivy" in The Batman Adventures Holiday Special one-shot (January 1995), co-plot by Paul Dini; co-plot, script, pencils, inks, and colors by Ronnie Del Carmen, letters by Richard Starkings

The single greatest panel in the history of comic books:

Harley and Ivy Are Best Friends, Day 2: Bunk Beds Are Cool

Panels from Batman Adventures v.2 #3 (August 2003), script by Dan Slott, pencils by Ty Templeton, inks by Terry Beatty, colors by Zylonol, letters by Phil Felix

Harley and Ivy Are Best Friends, Day 1: Just as we hit the green, I've never been so happy to be alive

The Mid-Day Matinee this week, all week: Harley and Ivy Are Best Friends! Take one plant-based eco-terrorist, mix well with a love-smitten screwball prankster, and you don't just have trouble for Batman...you've got BFFs! Yes, there's something special about the friendship of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy...they're there for each other through thick or thin, through Arkham or freedom, through murderous clowns or avenging Dark Knights. James Taylor once sang "you've got a friend"...until those two wacky gals blew him up! That's because Harley and Ivy Are Best Friends!


Panels from Batman: Harley and Ivy (June 2004), script by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, pencils by Bruce Timm, inks by Shane Glines, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Tom Orzechowski

Superheroes Meet Ordinary Joes, Day 2: I went to Metropolis and All I Got Was Killed by The Joker

Panels from Harley Quinn #14 (January 2002), script by Karl Kesel, pencils by Terry Dodson, inks by Rachel Dodson, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Ken Lopez

Monday Night Murals: No, these comics are not in 3D

There's at least one obvious cliché in interconnecting comic book cover murals, and I like to call it "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here!" It's the portrayal of team's members (or, in the case of a crossover, two or more teams) across the vast landscape of the cover mural. It's the equivalent of the family reunion photograph where everybody tries to crowd into frame and nobody notices until later that Uncle Bob (or Blue Beetle) is making bunny fingers behind the head of Grandpa (or, Batman).

You can break this either further down into a few different sub-genres. As the blogosphere's #3 stuffed animal blogger but its most noted expert on muralography (I have a degree!), I'm gonna hereby give some of 'em their technical names, and make sure you continue to use them in further comics scholarship so I get mentioned in the 2099 Encyclopedia of Comic Book Culture:

• "Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting": A mass meleé of characters, all mixed and meddled up, fighting each other or teaming up to fight a larger super-threat (See: New Teen Titans #37/Batman and the Outsiders #5, or the the Millennium Giants mural).
• "It Keeps You Running": the cast of characters are sprintin' towards something, whether it be a menace (or ice cream truck) onscreen or offscreen (X-Men #1, or The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe)—or towards us...hey, we're not super-villains...stop hitting us! (Outsiders v.2 #1 Alpha and Omega)
• "Strike a Pose, Let's Get Down to It": highlight each and every member of your team by creating a mural that's continued across comic books covers. If you've got four members, like...hmm...um...well, I'm sure there must be a team that has four members, but darned if I can think of one. Anyway, four members, one each on four comic covers that link up to form one big fantastic mural. Of four. If you're got ten members, you could put on one each cover of a ten-issue miniseries, unless of course you're DC and you cancel the book one issue short. Or, say, if you're publishing Legion of Super-Heroes, you have a mural that spans roughly from here to Takron-Galtos and takes one hundred and thirteen months to publish. But whatever you do, make sure you feature the characters doing what they do best: always put your best assets right up front:

Gotham City Sirens #1-2 (December 2009-February 2010), art by Guillem March
(Click picture to double-D-size)

So, there ya go. Six com...three comics that, if you're not careful, will put your eyes out.

Friday Night Not Fights, Ladies Night: H+I 4Ever

Okay! It's Friday and you know what that means, buckaroos: Friday Night Fights! I've been trainin' my fighters all week, setting them up with reps on the speed bag, drinking raw eggs and wrasslin' Wonder Dog, and now I'm ready to let loose, Hilary Swank style! Let's ring the bell and let the fights begin!

What's that? Friday Night Fights is postponed?

Well, poop.

Huh. So, if it's not Fight Night, then I guess I have to show some ladies not fighting, right? Some women being friendly and pleasant to each other instead of trading punches, huh? Hmmm, I think I know a couple what fits the bill poifectly:

Ivy loves Harley.

All panels are from Harley and Ivy #1-3 (June-August 2004), scripted and co-plotted by Paul Dini, pencilled and co-plotted by Bruce Timm, inked by Shane Glines, colored by Lee Loughridge, lettered by Tom Orzechowski

And, Harley loves Ivy.

Yes, even when our cheerful couple of criminal cuties have a falling-out, you just know there's a reconciliation on the horizon:






Yup, that's our larcenous lassies! These gal pals never let the world get them down, and they're always gonna be the best of friends forever. And...

...and...

Sheesh, Friday Night Fights is boring when there's no fights. Um, Miss Ivy, could ya...


Poifect. Thank you, goils!

Bahlactus has declared/Never turn the other cheek/And he said with might/Get ready to fight/I'll be back again next week!

Friday Night Fights: Good Clean Fun, or "How to Increase Your Blog Hits The Harley Quinn Way"

Panels from Batman: Harley and Ivy #1 (June 2004), written by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, art by Bruce Timm, Shane Glines and Lee Loughridge, letters by Tom Orzechowski. Golly, Miss Quinzel and Miss Isley are jus' about the best friends you ever saw, huh?

Bahlactus is manly, yes, but I like him too.

"Leaves of three, let them be. Leaves of four, eat some more."

From an article in today's Yahoo News:

Study: Global Warming Boosts Poison Ivy

WASHINGTON—Another reason to worry about global warming: more and itchier poison ivy. The noxious vine grows faster and bigger as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise, researchers report Monday.

And a CO2-driven vine also produces more of its rash-causing chemical, urushiol, conclude experiments conducted in a forest at Duke University where scientists increased carbon-dioxide levels to those expected in 2050.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas — a chemical that traps heat similar to the way a greenhouse does — that's considered a major contributor to global warming. Greenhouse gases have been steadily increasing in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution...

"The fertilization effect of rising CO2 on poison ivy...and the shift toward a more allergenic form of urushiol have important implications for the future health of both humans and forests," the study concludes.

That's funny. All along I thought it was Harley who boosted Poison Ivy:


Still, if global warming makes Ivy stronger, you know that that means:

Ra's Al Ghul versus Poison Ivy smackdown 12-issue crossover series!